The Importance of Community Theme Analysis

In Coming of Age in Mississippi, both Anne Moody’s personal isolation and the fragmentation of the Black community she observes throughout her involvement in the civil rights movement show that community is essential for sparking growth and change. When Mama gets together with Raymond, a light-skinned Black soldier, his family’s negative treatment of Mama and her family, who have darker skin, highlights how colorism leads to discrimination within the Black community. Anne’s early exposure to this form of discrimination will motivate her to encourage unity among disparate Black communities in her later work as a civil rights activist. Fragmentation within the Black community affects Anne on a personal level, as well: Anne’s awakening to systemic racism and subsequent refusal to accept it isolates her from Mama, who demands that Anne keep quiet about racial inequality and racial violence her own safety. In fact, Anne’s refusal to accept oppressive situations in general, such Raymond’s harassment of her and his mistreatment of Mama, is what causes Anne to move out of her home as a teenager.

Later, as Anne becomes more involved with civil rights organizations, Mama continually begs her to stop. Eventually, Anne becomes unable to go home to Centreville due to the danger that she poses for her family. Anne’s isolation negatively affects her mental and physical health. Anne’s isolation mirrors the difficulty that civil rights organizations faced in uniting Black people toward activist efforts, such as voter registration. Many Black people, especially of the older generation, are resistant to registering to vote out of fear of white backlash or belief that their collective registration will not make a difference. Additionally, Anne encounters Uncle Toms throughout her life, a term for a Black person who is overly subservient to white people. At least one of these Toms, Principal Willis, directly contributes to violence against Black people, undermining the work of Black activists.  Anne discovers that keeping the Black community fragmented is one of the strategies that systemically racist systems employ to uphold their oppressive systems. For example, newspapers often print articles that makes the Black community appear divided. Anne and her comrades’ push toward collective action shows that community and collective revolutionary energy are vital for social movements to bring about lasting change.